UN panel: Authorities could have stopped Bhutto murder

PAKISTANI authorities could have prevented the 2007 murder of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto and deliberately failed to properly investigate her death, a UN-appointed independent panel has said.

“Ms Bhutto’s assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken,” said a report by a three- member panel headed by Chile’s UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz.

The panel, tasked with establishing the circumstances of the killing, said it believed the Pakistani police’s failure to effectively probe the slaying “was deliberate”.